Our Lenten Quest

A Reflection on the Gospel of Matthew 9:14-15

The Gospel can be found at: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022423.cfm

(Internet Image from Fast & Amp)

     There was a man who walking one day, stumbled onto a one-hundred-dollar bill laying on the sidewalk. He was absolutely astounded at his good luck. He picked up the bill, immediately went home, and placed the money in a jar. Every day that followed, when the man went out, he would scour the sidewalk for whatever treasure his constantly searching eyes might uncover. In good or bad weather, hunched over and focused on the ground, the man searched and occasionally found a treasure. It seemed all that was important to him was the search, his quest. The man was often oblivious to the beauty of nature or his neighbors; such was the intensity of his search. He was focused on that new treasure which awaited him. His neighbors, worried about him, would often invite him to lunch or just a simple conversation. His only response was a downcast mumble, and then he would continue his search. The man became estranged from his family and had few friends. Many wondered at the man’s search. What was so important that he would spend his every waking hour in the search? He never seemed to do anything with what he found. His joy seemed to be in the quest alone. His was a mere casting about without clear purpose.

     After years of looking down, the man became hunched over and bitter. His quest never really made him happy; yet, he could not stop. When he died, his neighbors came to help clean out his small apartment. Inside they found a few jars. One was full of various trinkets the man had found. Several jars were filled with various coins. One jar was filled with dollar bills, and another was filled with five- and ten-dollar bills, and one, one-hundred-dollar bill. This was the life-time accumulation of the man’s search, his quest. Many wondered, why?

If Life is a quest, a search, what are you spending your time searching for?

    In the story, the Man’s entire life was wrapped up in a quest. Yet, it had no purpose. He became lost in the act of searching. We can easily fall into that trap.

     In the Gospel today, Jesus reminds us that we cannot become so caught up in the outward actions of our faith, the quest, such that we lose sight of the fruit it is intended to produce. A quest must have its goal, or it becomes a meaningless wandering.

     John’s disciples challenge the behavior of Jesus and his disciples. The challenge centers on fasting. Fasting in Judaism was intended as a penitential practice to return to or draw nearer to God in holiness and the discipline of the Law. Joel writing to the people of Judah expresses this desire,  

Yet even now—oracle of the LORD— return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God, For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment. (Joel 2:12–13 NABRE)

     Unfortunately, in Israel at the time of Jesus, fasting practices had become an outward display. For some, it became an outward show of holiness. We hear it in the pride-filled prayer of the Pharisee in the Gospel of Luke,

The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ (Luke 18:11–12 NABRE)

     For many others, perhaps like John’s disciples, fasting was just what religious Jews do. The display was part of their, Essene and Pharisee, identity. The purpose was lost.

     Jesus, in the Gospel, is reminding John’s disciples that fasting must have a purpose. If they had really paid attention to who Jesus is, they would have rejoiced! The challenge to fast would be ridiculous. Why? The bridegroom is here, it is time to feast! Jesus tells them that there will come a time to fast. But that time is not now. There must be a purpose. Fasting, as a practice, must serve its goal.

The Practices of Lent Call Us to Conversion!

     Our Lent has just begun. It is a time for conversion, of reorienting our lives away from sin and distraction back to God. This is our purpose. Our external practices of Lent: Stations of the Cross, fasting and abstinence, Lenten missions, celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and acts of charity are the means through which we are drawn to that conversion. Lent and its practices are meaningless unless they change our life and bring us back to God. Our quest has a goal. St Leo the Great wrote,

For our fast does not consist chiefly of mere abstinence from food, nor are dainties withdrawn from our bodily appetites with profit, unless the mind is recalled from wrong-doing and the tongue restrained from slandering. This is a time of gentleness and long-suffering, of peace and tranquility: when all the pollutions of vice are to be eradicated and continuance of virtue is to be attained by us. Now let godly minds boldly accustom themselves to forgive faults, to pass over insults, and to forget wrongs. (St Leo Sermon 42.2)

     Don’t let Lent become a series of meaningless “have-to’s”, a quest without a purpose. Allow it to become a time of conversion, a reordering of our life such that we rend our hearts, not our garments, and return to the Lord. For the bridegroom awaits us at the wedding feast of the lamb in heaven. This is our goal. It is no meaningless quest. It is a matter of eternal life.

Endnotes

“Fast & Abstinence Rules - District of the USA: Gethsémani, Bouddhisme, Spiritualité.” Pinterest, 5 Mar. 2019, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/549861435752835164/.

Leo the Great. “Sermons.” Leo the Great, Gregory the Great. Ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Trans. Charles Lett Feltoe. Vol. 12a. New York: Christian Literature Company, 1895. 156. Print. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series.

New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011. Print.